Fitbit Sense won't charge

[Razorgirl88]

So I see some other people have posted on this problem.  I ordered my Fitbit Sense on January 7, 2021, directly from Fitbit.  There were some shipping issues and I finally got it at the end of January.  Since receiving it, I have had intermittent charging issues.  Sometimes this is resolved by cleaning the connections, other times I've had to resolve it by resetting the Sense by holding down the button for 10 seconds until the Fitbit symbol shows on the face of the watch.  On a few occasions I just had to keep trying plugging it in to different sockets on my computer.  However, this time it flashed "0%" the first time I plugged it in but then never charged.  It won't reset using the button, nor will it work after cleaning the contacts or plugging it into different sockets.  I haven't even owned this 4 months yet and I'm really frustrated with this problem. I keep my software up to date and don't know what else to do.

Moderator edit: subject for clarity

[Bubbabighatt]

Can you feel all 4 prongs sticking out from the part of the charger that
magnetically sticks to the back of your fitbit? If not, you need a new
charging cord. Sometimes if you complain a little bit, fitbit will give
you a new one. Otherwise, Amazon carries them.

[DianeRL]

Your story is completely mine,

[DianeRL]

My 4 month old Sense stops charging. I’ve gone through the trouble

shooting sequence twice with customer support, and although each time the watch started to charge, within a few days it stopped charging. I checked the prongs on the back of the charger and like on your charger the lower left pin is retracted. A few gentle knocks on the back of the charger cause the pin to re-emerge but it retracted again immediately after attaching it onto my watch. As others have said, Fitbit must certainly be aware of this issue, not only the retraction but also, I suspect, the offending pin. 
It is also an issue that the clockface does not have a charging indicator icon.

I’m going to call customer service again to see about getting a free replacement charger. 
BTW I’ve had bad luck communicating via chat because of limits on the permissible keying time. I’ve been hung up on twice because my response was too long and my typing too slo

[DianeRL]

Exactly, the bottom left prong!

[StanGale]

In the Fitbit article  "Why isn't my Fitbit device's battery charging?"

Fitbit fails to acknowledge that the strong magnet that pulls the charger against the watch SLAMS the charger's pins against the watch.

How many times can these delicate pins survive this pounding before a pin gets pushed into the chargers body - rendering the charger - AND YOUR WATCH - inoperable!

This is not an uncommon issue, according to these forums.

It's happened to me.

It's a poor showing that Fitbit does not acknowledge this known issue in their own article on this subject.

[SANROB]

I am having the same issue as the others on this post.  One of the pins is definitely lower than the others and I'm having difficulty getting it to come out.  My sense is only a few months old.  How do I get a replacement charging cord?

[BKD32]

You could try calling customer service. They might help. You can also buy a
third party replacement on Amazon. I put my watch in a drawer. I refuse to
pay for a replacement charger that was designed so poorly from the start.

[StanGale]

Contact customer support and get a new one under warranty.
Amazon sells them by the pair, which tells you that these have a limited
lifespan.
The strong magnet that mates the charger with the watch ensures the pins on
the charger slap the watch hard enough to eventually push the pins into the
body of the charging cord head, thus ruining the electrical contact.

[DianeRL]

I did call customer service and the associate said that I would receive an email about a replacement charger. We’ll see… BTW, when I told the associate that only three pins on the charger were up, he recognized the problem right away. So Fitbit knows about this problem.

Sent from my iPad

[DianeRL]

You can contact customer service and tell them that only three pins are in the charging position and that you want the charger to be replaced. It was my experience that the customer service agent recognized this problem right away.

Sent from my iPad

[DianeRL]

Hear, hear!

Sent from my iPad

[JerryHuiskamp]

An unraised pin seems to be the issue in my case. It is too low to be grabbed by tweezers. The corresponding charging contact is black while the other three contacts are silver. I will call Customer Support.

[Guy_]

@JerryHuiskamp- thank you, this confirms the theory that sparking [due to unclean contacts, or just bad contacts] causes heating of the pin causing it to melt.

[JerryHuiskamp]

Further info:

1. I am able to get the red 0% charged screen when I press the button (with a small paperclip, rounded edge of course),
2. Customer Support created a case number, will ship out a new charger,
3. That charging contact matching the recessed pin should not be black. I had tried to clean it with rubbing alcohol and a toothbrush, to no avail. So perhaps @Guy_ 's theory that sparking [due to unclean contacts, or just bad contacts]  causes heating of the pin causing it to melt is correct,
4. Will follow through with a post when I receive the charger.

[Guy_]

@JerryHuiskamp- thanks, you may have difficulty charging due to the black deposits with a new charge cable.

Don't use any metal object to clean it, a Qtip is relatively soft or plastic or wooden toothpick but super gently because even removing the surface contamination will make the hole slightly deeper and less likely to provide a good contact.

[primortal]

I take it that's much cheaper for Fitbit pissing off customers and replace all these charging cables than to actually fix the design flaw...

I wonder if the Sense 2 will have the same charging cable issues (and counting floor problem).

[Guy_]

@primortal  - hopefully they will adopt something like this charge cable for the Umidigi Ufit.

It's never been cleaned or had a single problem in over 2 years. Fits perfectly every time.

[C4Me]

Same issues here too. My Fitbit sense is over a year old and totally pooped out, with no sign of life. It’s out of warranty and the support team was really no help. It is expensive to replace can’t find the factory restart ? I will not purchase a new Fitbit every year so I need help! Any suggestions anyone?

[CraigHansen]

Examine the charger, and particularly the four pins. With the charger in the correct position for charging (pins facing toward you, wire extending off to the right), the lower-left pin is the culprit, and doesn't spring upward. I've managed to eke out a few charges by putting the charger and watch together, watch downward, and gently tapping them on a hard surface to get the pin to extend, but once the spring fails, replacing the charger is the only fix. I'm on my seventh charger over a two-year period, and even third-party chargers fail the same way as the official Fitbit charger - it appears to be a design flaw that affects all Sense-compatible chargers.

My hypothesis (others have expressed a similar opinion) is that this pin carries significantly greater current than the other three when charging, causing the pin to heat and the spring to weaken.

StanGale's observation the magnet causes the watch and charger to slap together does not explain why it's always the same pin that visibly fails.

Press articles about the upcoming Sense 2 have shown pictures indicating Fitbit plans to use the same charging configuration as the current Sense. If they don't specifically correct this major issue, I cannot recommend others share the fate of current Sense owners into a second generation.

Fitbit should send out free charge cables as a quarterly subscription item!

[Goresh]

Given that every Fitbit watch suffer from problems with the charging port in
one form or another, I am starting to think that it is intentional built in
obsolescence to get people to buy a new device.



--
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
www.avast.com